Are We Truly the Salt of The Earth or Have We Become Bland?

To reserve for exclusive use, to save from harm.

Preserves are good on a nice hot buttered biscuit, especially homemade preserves. Have you ever opened up a jar and found that wax ring on the top? That was placed there to preserve the fruit. With that thought in mind, Christ puts that salt or wax around us to preserve us for an exclusive use – to reach the world. Unfortunately, some Christians’ “wax” is a little thin, and the preserves do not last.

Meat that is hung in a smokehouse has a layer of salt on it as a preservative. It acts as a barrier. God always places that barrier of saltiness around us to preserve us now and for future service. However, like the meat in a smokehouse, that barrier can wear thin if we do not continually apply the salt (in our case, keep in the Word). 

To provoke displeasure, impatience.

Put salt in a wound and what happens? It hurts! Salty Christians always sing, worship and praise the Lord wherever they are or regardless of circumstances. Salty Christians study the Word, and they witness. Sinners do not like that; it irritates their lifestyle. That means the Holy Spirit is convicting their hearts. 

Some churches and Christians have lost their saltiness; they soothe rather than irritate. Their saltiness has become watered down. They have turned the church into a social club, a place for people to network. Instead of winning souls, Christians have become politically correct. Christians have set aside their differences from the world (their Christian life) and they do not want to offend anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings. They want to get together and do good works, show how good they are, and increase their societal standing.

They must regain their saltiness, even if it means making people uncomfortable.

Salt may come in different forms, but it is still salt. 

What does it mean to be good for nothing? Are we of little worth? Are we useless? We do not work for our salvation. It is a free gift from God; but we must work after receiving the gift.

If I am not doing good, then I must be doing wrong, I must be counterproductive. If I am not drawing people to Christ, I must be pushing them away. If I am not showing the right way, then I must be showing them the wrong way. How will we stand before God with nothing to show for our salvation?

Ask yourself: Am I spreading the goodness of God?

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Detry26

Chris Swanson answered the call into the ministry over 20 years ago. He has served as a Sunday School teacher, a youth director along with his wife, a music director, an associate pastor, and an interim pastor. He is a retired Navy Chief Hospital Corpsman with over 30 years of combined active and reserve service. You can contact Chris here, and check out his work here.